The Five Scarves - Dragonkin Ascension Part 1
by RaceProUK
Summary: (Book 2 of 3, Part 1 of 5) Hanna Skarlett: kidnapped! Rob won't rest until she's returned safely to him, but he doesn't know where to begin; luckily, Maria, Danny, and Xander are there to help him.
1. Chapter 1

Deep in the night, a lone ATV speeds through Jade Creek; the ground is slick after a brief yet intense shower, but the silver-furred hare doesn't care. His mind is totally focussed on just two things: not crashing, and finding his kidnapped girlfriend.

Rob Stiil pushes his ATV to the absolute limit; he pushes so hard he comes close to crashing on several occasions. But this doesn't slow him down. Two hours after midnight, he reaches his destination: a lakeside house built into the hill. Leaping off his ATV before it's stopped, the vehicle slews into the undergrowth, where it stalls; Rob crashes through the front door, sending shards and splinters throughout the den.

" _HANNA'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!_ " Rob wails in anger, falling to his knees. Someone slams into the hare, knocking him flat to the floor; he feels a tanto pressed on his neck for the briefest moment before it's withdrawn.

" _W-W-W-W-What?_ " Maria stammers, unable and unwilling to comprehend the news.

" _Hanna's been kidnapped!_ " Rob repeats. The sudden activation of the ceiling light blinds him and Maria for a moment; Maria rolls off Rob to one side.

"What on Avalice is-" Danny begins; when Rob's words sink in, he recites a string of obscenity. "Who would take her?" he asks as Xander barges into the den, ready to fight; when he sees Rob, he stands down.

" _Who cares?_ " Rob bellows. " _We have to find her!_ "

"And we won't do that yelling through the night!" Danny snaps. "Now calm down!"

Rob jumps to his feet and storms up to Danny. "I will do _anything_ to find the woman I love!" he growls.

"And we will do everything we can to help you!" Danny retorts. "That's why you came here, isn't it? But we can't do that unless you calm down and tell us what you know!"

Rob stares Danny down; Danny remains steadfast. Eventually, Rob's anger begins to subside. Slowly, despair takes over; shrinking from Danny, Rob drops into the chair and buries his face in his hands. "I don't know much," he sobs. "All I have is a note."

"That's a start," Danny replies softly. "Do you have it on you?" Rob takes the note out of his pocket and hands it to Danny; the badger takes the note and reads it. "Whoever took her clearly wants to keep us busy," he concludes, folding the note. "But now is not the time to try and figure it out; we need fresh minds to make any progress."

"We can't waste any time!" Rob pleads. "We have to find her before she's-"

"Don't even _think_ that!" Maria snaps, her eyes moist. "We'll find her alive and well, and you _know_ it!"

"Maria's right," Danny agrees. "We need to keep our hopes up; we won't get anywhere being negative."

"I know," Rob whispers. "I just… I don't know what I'd do without her…"

"I think you should get some sleep," Danny suggests.

"Not sure I can," Rob laments.

"You'll have to try," Maria adds weakly, crying in sympathy.

"Maria, get Rob to bed," Danny asks softly. "Xander, go check Rob's ATV; judging by the mess he's made of the front door, it's probably buried in the undergrowth." With a nod, Xander heads outside.

"I'm really sorry," Rob murmurs. "I'll pay for a replacement."

"Don't worry about it; you weren't thinking straight," Danny assures. "Anyway, we have a couple of spares left over from when we renovated this place."

"Come on, let's get you to bed." Maria's trying to stay strong for her friend, but she cannot keep her voice from breaking.

Reluctantly, Rob stands and allows Maria to lead him to the spare bedroom; a moment later, Xander returns from outside. "I got his ATV out and put it with our trikes," he reports. "It looks like it needs some minor repairs though."

"We can sort that out in the morning," Danny acknowledges; he looks around at the mess. "We just need something to block the doorway, and then-"

Xander doesn't wait for Danny to finish; he picks up the sofa and stands it on end, blocking the front doorway. He then moves a few other pieces of sturdy furniture around it as reinforcement.

"That works, I guess," Danny compliments. "Now, let's get back to bed; we've got a lot of work to do in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning, Maria and Xander were first up; by the time Rob and Danny joined them, Xander had restored the furniture to its normal arrangement and hung a new door, and Maria had prepared a basic breakfast. It's clear that Rob had had a restless night; nevertheless, he had gotten enough sleep to allow him to remain relatively calm and patient while Danny and Maria help him analyse the note while Xander repairs the ATV.

"This is…" Danny begins, reading the note carefully.

"Well, we have to figure it out somehow," Rob snaps. "It's our only lead!"

"And we will," Danny assures. "One way or another, we will. And it'll be easier if you stay calm."

Rob sighs. "Sorry, I just… let's figure this out."

Danny reads the note out loud.

 _Defenders will fall  
Union of elements  
Ryu ascending_

"Any thoughts?" Danny asks.

"It's… pretty?" Maria ventures. Rob shoots her an unamused and disapproving look; she returns a look of innocence.

"Let's break it down, line by line," Danny suggests. "The first line: _Defenders will fall_."

"Defenders of what?" Rob asks.

"Could be anything," Danny answers.

"Could be the Crystals," Maria suggests.

"Can't be," Danny dismisses. "The amount of protection they have, we can be sure they're safe."

"What about the Jade Alliance?" Rob asks. "We know they're after them."

"Without Serpentine to keep them united, they'll be too busy fighting each other," Danny reminds. "The Magister sent us to neutralise that threat, and we did."

"But that's the point!" Rob counters. "They have a reason to-"

"Kidnap someone they'd never met before?" Danny snipes back. "Why not just kill? And why just Hanna? Why not all five of us? And let's not forget, they don't know where we live; they don't even know for sure we're from the Origin Kingdoms."

"Point taken," Rob relents. "Not that it helps us, but point taken."

"Good. Any other thoughts?" Danny waits for the others to reply; they remain silent. "OK, we'll come back to that one. What about line two, ' _Union of elements_ '? And remember we've already ruled out the Jades."

"We all learned we have elemental affinity when we went on our Crystal quest," Maria reminds.

"And we wouldn't kidnap one of our own," Rob snaps. "Any ideas that aren't stupid?"

Maria reaches for her tanto, growling menacingly; Danny puts his hand out to stop her going any further. "Both of you, stop it!" he demands. "Especially you, Rob!"

"But-" Rob begins.

"Unless you have something constructive to say, shut it!" Danny commands; Rob bows his head in deference. "OK," Danny continues, his tone calm again, "looks like we can't figure out the second line. And, quite frankly, I don't think we'll get the third either."

"I've never known anyone called 'Ryu'," Maria reveals.

"Me neither," Danny adds. "Rob?" Rob shakes his head.

"Figured it out yet?" Xander asks, entering the den from outside; he can tell immediately from the others' expressions that they haven't. "Can I have a look?"

"Don't see why not," Danny agrees, holding the note out for Xander. "Don't think you'll find anything though."

Xander takes the note and reads it carefully several times; after a few moments thought, he admits "You're right, I got nothing."

A glum silence descends.

"Why don't we look around their house for more clues?" Xander suggests a few moments later.

"Because we didn't think of that," Danny admits. "Is Rob's ATV repaired?"

"Aye," Xander confirms.

"Then let's not waste any more time," Danny commands.


	3. Chapter 3

Shortly after midday, Rob, Danny, Maria, and Xander arrive at Hanna and Rob's Rage Ravine home; leaving Maria to scour the treeline for clues, Xander is assigned the lower floor and garage, while Rob and Danny tackle the upper floor.

"You said the note was on the balcony?" Danny asks as he and Rob head upstairs.

"Yes," Rob confirms. "Hanna was sunbathing when I left."

"How long were you away?"

"Several hours. I took those communicators back to HQ for repairs and upgrades, then went to Shang Tu; I got back early evening."

"That's a fair size window," Danny concludes as they enter the master bedroom. "Strange how there's no sign of struggle anywhere," he adds, seeing the bedroom is just as neat and tidy as the den. "I'll cover the balcony," he volunteers.

Over the next ten minutes, Danny scours every square inch of the balcony while Rob examines every nook and cranny of the bedroom; their searching complete, Danny returns to the bedroom.

"Find anything?" Rob asks, his tone hopeful.

"Two things," Danny answers; he holds up the spent tranquiliser dart.

"A tranq dart?" Rob takes the dart and turns it over in his hand several times. "Not a design I recognise, but that explains why there's no sign of struggle. What was the other thing?"

"This." Danny holds up the engagement ring.

Rob freezes wide-eyed when he sees the ring. With a harsh curse, he snatches the ring and shoves it in his pocket; a moment later, with a sigh, he relaxes. "Sorry; I… it's just… after four years I… look, don't tell Maria I was going to propose, OK? She'll just get excited, and-"

"I won't say a word," Danny assures. "It was your four-year anniversary yesterday, wasn't it?" he adds a moment later; Rob nods, his eyes moist. "We'll find her," Danny promises.

"I found something!" Maria shouts as she sprints from the treeline to the house.

Danny and Rob dash out to the balcony rail. "What?" Danny calls.

Maria slides to a halt under the balcony. "This!" she cries, holding up something small and brass-coloured.

"We can't tell what it is from up here," Rob replies.

"It's a shell casing!" Maria explains. "I found some bits of plastic too!"

"Could they be from the tranq dart?" Danny muses to himself. "Meet us in the den," he instructs Maria a moment later.

"No clues found," Xander informs as Danny and Rob enter the den; Maria is already there waiting for them.

"To be expected," Danny informs. "Based on what we found, Hanna was taken from the balcony; it's possible the captors never entered the house itself."

"What did you find?" Xander inquires.

"A spent tranq dart," Danny answers.

"And a shell casing and some plastic bits," Maria adds, handing her findings to Danny. He takes all the pieces and sits on the sofa; spreading the parts out on the coffee table, he rearranges them, attempting to piece the jigsaw together.

"Well?" Rob asks impatiently a few moments later.

"It's a match," Danny concludes. "The dart was housed in a sabot, and fired using a black powder charge. But I can't tell you what sort of rifle fired it."

"Well, _that_ helps," Rob spits sarcastically.

"Stop it," Danny commands. "We'll take these to the armoury at HQ; if anyone can work out what fired the dart, it's them."


	4. Chapter 4

After a very quick lunch, the four friends make directly for Scarves HQ. On arrival, they head straight to the armoury; if anyone is going to recognise the tranq dart, sabot, and shell casing, it'll be the armourers. When the group enters the armoury, they find only one person present, a middle-aged tigress wearing an eye-patch; luckily, she is the armoury quartermaster.

"What can I do for you boys?" the quartermaster greets.

"And girl!" Maria adds, appearing from behind Xander; the tigress nods an acknowledgement.

"We're trying to trace a weapon," Danny informs.

"An unusual request," the tigress replies. "I'm not sure how much help I can be."

"One way or another, you-" Rob begins aggressively.

"Rob, shut up!" Danny interrupts. "Let me handle this!"

"But-" Rob begins to retort.

"Xander, get him out of here," Danny commands; Xander grabs Rob and leads him outside.

"What's his problem?" the tigress asks one Rob is outside.

"His girlfriend was kidnapped yesterday," Danny explains. "We're trying to find her."

"Is she a fellow Scarf?"

"Yes."

"Then I will do everything within my power to help you find her," the tigress declares authoritatively. "What do you have?"

"These." Danny hands over the shell casing, sabot, and tranq dart. "We know this is a tranq dart and the sabot and casing it was fired from, but that's it."

"Then you came to the right place," the tigress replies, taking the items; she studies them intently for a few moments. "These aren't Red Scarf items, nor are they anything I've seen anywhere in the Origin Kingdoms," she informs. "I'll need to take them for more detailed analysis."

"How long will that take?" Danny asks. "Time is of the essence."

"I can't guarantee anything," the tigress explains, "but I'll do my best; give me about three hours."

"Three hours?" Maria exclaims.

"Forensic ballistics isn't trivial," the tigress replies sternly.

"We know," Danny assures. "Don't we Maria?"

"We do?" Maria asks, slightly confused.

"Yes," Danny replies sternly; he turns back to the tigress. "Please forgive-"

"Don't worry about it," the tigress dismisses calmly. "I'll work as quickly as I can."

"Thank you," Danny nods respectfully. "We'll be back in a few hours. Come on Maria, let's not delay the quartermaster further." Together, they make their way back outside.

"Well?" Rob asks impatiently as Danny and Maria join him and Xander.

"The quartermaster has taken the casing and dart for further analysis," Danny informs.

"How long will that take?"

"Three hours."

" _Three hours?_ " Rob is almost shouting.

"Yes," Danny confirms sternly. "And getting angry won't speed that up."

"So what do we do?"

"We wait."

Rob sighs out of frustration. "I can't wait three hours."

"Then go train," Danny suggests. "At least it'll give you something to do. And you can work off some of that frustration."

"Fine." Rob stalks off to the dojo.

"He's really not handling this well," Danny remarks once Rob is out of earshot. "He's all over the place."

"What do you expect?" Maria demands.

Danny sighs. "I don't know. But what I _do_ know is he's not thinking straight. And that's what worries me…"


	5. Chapter 5

With three hours to wait, the four friends all find ways to pass the time; Rob is in the dojo as commanded, Danny heads to the library to do further research, Xander elects to help train some of the new recruits, and Maria finds a spare room in the barracks to try to nap. However, after a restless thirty minutes, Maria finally admits to herself that she just isn't going to fall asleep; frustrated, she heads to the dojo, where she finds Rob in a small workout room by himself, tearing a punching bag to shreds with his sai.

"How many more are you going to get through?" Maria asks, keeping her tone neutral; Rob doesn't answer. "And what would she think of you behaving the way you have been?"

The second question elicits a reaction; Rob turns to face the lynx, wearing an expression of pure thunder. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"If she walked in here right now, she wouldn't recognise you," Maria returns sternly.

" _How dare you?_ " Rob yells, charging the lynx.

Maria quickly draws her blades and blocks Rob's attack. "And now you're attacking a friend who only wants to help!" she retorts. "You're making it very hard to stay calm!"

For a few minutes, the pair fight; the sound of blade and sai clashing fills the room. As the fight progresses, Maria slowly gains the upper hand; with a final twisting sweep of her ninjato, both of Rob's sai are torn from his grip, landing ten feet away. With Rob's guard down, Maria sweep-kicks his legs. Rob slams hard onto the dojo floor; before he can recover, Maria pounces on top of him and rests the sharp edge of her tanto on his throat.

" _That is enough!_ " Maria cries, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I want to find her just as much as you do! But all you're doing is fighting us! And it _hurts_ to see you like this!" Maria starts to shake; she pulls the tanto away from Rob's neck. "I'm trying to stay strong, and you're making it so hard… I just… I just…" Maria's resolve finally breaks; discarding her blades, she collapses in floods of tears. " _I want my meanie back!_ "

Rob carefully sits up, holding Maria close in mutual comfort. "I want her back too," he assures; his voice is weak and broken, yet somehow also comforting. "And I know you only want to help."

"Then why are you being so mean?" Maria asks, her own voice so weak it's almost inaudible.

"Because I'm scared," Rob admits.

"Of what?"

"That I may never get her back."

Maria pushes herself away from Rob a little. "I'm scared of that too," she admits, wiping her eyes. "But we need to stay strong; if we don't, then we'll never find her."

Rob takes a deep shuddering breath. "You're right," he admits. "We need to be united, now more than ever."

Maria throws her arms around Rob, hugging him tightly. "We'll find her," she whispers. "Together."

"Together," Rob agrees, returning the hug.


	6. Chapter 6

Two hours later, Rob and Maria, having both taken a nap after their bout, join Danny in the library; they find him surrounded by several assorted books, half of which are open at seemingly unrelated pages.

"How's the research going?" Rob greets.

"Promise you won't get angry or frustrated," Danny replies tartly.

"I promise," Rob assures. "Maria and I had a chat-"

"He tried to kill me," Maria interjects.

"Not exactly reassuring," Danny remarks.

"I didn't try to kill anyone," Rob sighs. "I just… look, I'm sorry for how I was before. I wasn't thinking straight, and I was letting my emotions get the better of me."

Danny meets Rob's gaze; he can see the honesty and openness. "Apology accepted. Just remember, we're all friends."

"I know, and I'm grateful," Rob acknowledges. "So, how's the research going?"

"Not well," Danny sighs. "I've been searching for any meaning behind the name 'Ryu', and… well, I've not found much. Just a couple of historical figures, although the sources are so old their veracity is in doubt. Even if they are accurate though, they're not relevant."

"So nothing," Rob summarises. "Hopefully in half an hour we'll get something from the armoury."

"There is one thing that puzzles me," Danny continues. "Why did the kidnappers leave evidence?"

Rob thinks for a moment. "That's a really good question," he admits.

"Maybe the kidnappers were in a hurry?" Maria asks.

"I was away for several hours," Rob explains.

"Plenty of time to remove the evidence," Danny adds.

"I know I never leave anything behind when sniping," Rob continues. "But then I use my shuriken rifle; it doesn't use gunpowder, so there's no shell casings to recover. And the part that acts like a sabot remains on the rifle."

"Whereas the dart _was_ fired by gunpowder," Danny informs.

"And any sniper that uses such rounds knows to recover the casings," Rob finishes.

"Which means they're either sloppy, or they _want_ to be found," Danny concludes.

"That… doesn't really help," Maria sighs.

"Not yet," Danny agrees, "but it's still worth thinking about; sometimes it's the smallest detail that proves to be the most important."

Rob checks the time. "We should probably think about heading back to the armoury soon."

"We should get something to eat first," Maria suggests. "Oh, and go get the big guy."

"Good idea," Danny agrees. "We go get Xander, then something to eat; by the time we've done that, it'll be time to return to the armoury."

"Oh, and tell Hanna's parents," Maria reminds.

Rob and Danny freeze, stunned silent that they'd forgotten to inform Mike and Kathy.

"Ah, yes," Rob mumbles. "Erm…"

"Don't worry, I'll inform them," Danny volunteers.


	7. Chapter 7

A little behind schedule, the four friends return to the armoury; the tigress is nowhere to be seen.

"Must be taking her longer than anticipated," Danny observes.

"It's been over _three hours!_ " Rob exclaims. "What could… Come on, stay calm, don't panic…"

"Want me to sneak in, see what's taking so long?" Maria asks.

"No need," the tigress answers, appearing beside the group.

Maria jumps in surprise, tripping over her own tail and landing flat on her back. "What did you find?" she asks, pretending she meant to fall.

The tigress isn't convinced; she holds a hand out to help Maria up again. "The shell casing and sabot definitely match up to the dart," the tigress reports, pulling Maria to her feet. "And I can guarantee that it wasn't fired from any Red Scarf or Origin Kingdom weapon."

"Can you tell us what type of weapon it _was_ fired from?" Danny asks.

"Not as such," the tigress admits. "But I can tell you the sort of thing to look for. Come; I'll show you what I found."

The tigress leads the quartet to a compact lab. The bench is littered with assorted equipment, among which lie the dart, sabot, and shell casing; off to one side is a rack of vials with small amounts of various coloured liquids.

"First, I want to assure you that the sedative used, while fast-acting, is one of the less dangerous compounds," the tigress assures. "So long as she got the stabiliser within an hour, she'll wake up with nothing worse than a slight headache."

"That's… actually rather comforting," Rob replies.

"Glad to hear it," the tigress smiles. "Though the rest of my news won't be so comforting."

"You mean you _weren't_ able to identify the weapon?" Rob asks.

"No," the tigress sighs.

"I think I'll wait outside," Rob volunteers; he steps out of the room.

"He'll be OK," Danny assures.

"If you say so," the tigress sighs. "I can't identify the weapon, but I can at least give you some information about where it comes from," she continues. "Hopefully you'll be able to make use of it."

"Anything you have, we're grateful for it," Danny replies.

"OK." The tigress directs Danny to look through a magnifying device; it has the dart placed to allow Danny to read the markings on it. "As you can see, whoever made the dart has signed it; clearly they're proud of their work. Unfortunately, I don't recognise the writing system they used; it's nothing like any writing system used through the Origin Kingdoms. The black powder mix was unusual too; I detected significant amounts of potassium-sulphur compounds, which means the formulation is an older one. No black powder used by the Origin Kingdoms or the Red Scarves contains potassium or sulphur; our formulations are all nitrogen compounds."

"So whoever took Hanna is not from the Origin Kingdoms," Danny concludes.

"That would be the simplest explanation, yes," the tigress confirms.

Danny thinks for a moment. "Can you give us a copy of everything you found?"

"Of course," the tigress confirms; she hands Danny a small sheet of paper with a transcription of the dart's markings, as well as a summary of the chemical analyses performed. "Do you want to take the dart and stuff as well?"

"No," Danny decides. "We have what we came for. Thanks for all you've done; it's greatly appreciated."

"Just doing my duty," the tigress acknowledges.


	8. Chapter 8

Two hours later, Danny is alone in the Shang Tu Royal Library; Maria and Xander have taken Rob back to their Jade Creek home to get some rest. However, Danny's research isn't progressing well; starting to tire, he leaves the Library and makes his way to the Palace dining hall in search of refreshments. Sat at a quiet table nursing a cup of coffee, Danny doesn't notice a familiar engineer approaching.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you here at this time of night!" Sally chirps.

"Huh?" Danny asks, turning to face the new voice. "Oh, hi Sally."

"You look down; want to talk?" Sally asks, sitting beside the forlorn badger.

"Well…"

"You know you can trust me; after all, the Magister trusts me with you-know-what."

"OK," Danny relents. "Hanna was kidnapped yesterday, and we're trying to find out who took her and where."

Sally stares back, stunned into silence; a moment later, she looks around, clearly scared. "If they can capture a Scarf…" she whispers.

"We don't know it's them," Danny assures. "Also, Hanna was tranquilised and kidnapped when she was alone on her balcony; you're housed inside a guarded, fortified palace."

"I guess you're right." Sally relaxes a little, but she's still on edge.

"It's a long shot, but have you seen this writing system before?" Danny asks, showing the transcription to Sally; as soon as she sees the writing, she freezes in fear. "I take it by your reaction that you have."

"Y-Y-Yes, I h-h-have," Sally stammers. "Once. When I w-was h-held by th-the J-Jade Alliance."

Now Danny freezes. " _Defenders will fall_ … _Union of elements_ … It's all starting to make sense now… We have to get to the Library!" he declares.

"W-Why?"

"Now I know what the writing system is, the final clue might just be falling into place."

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Danny and Sally are hunched over a book in the Library.

"This is definitely the correct writing system," Danny confirms.

"What was the clue that might now fall into place?" Sally asks.

" _Ryu ascending_."

"That's an odd clue," Sally remarks, idly flicking through the book. "Hmm… this is an interesting word…"

"What word?"

"'Mamushi'."

" _What?_ " Danny snatches the book.

"You could have simply asked."

"Sorry. It's just I've heard that word before."

"Where?"

"One of the Grand Masters referred to Serpentine by that name…"

Danny spends several minutes rifling through the book; when he finds the entry for 'Ryu', he freezes in shock and horror. "It… _can't_ be…"

Sally reads the entry for the word Danny found. "'Ryu'. Means 'dragon'."

Danny swears violently.

"Danny!" Sally admonishes. "This is a library! Show some respect!"

"Sorry, but I have to go," Danny replies.

"Why?"

But it's too late: Danny is already gone.


End file.
